Miro represents a period
in the history of the Suevian kingdom of Gallicia, when, having
renounced the Arianism imposed upon them in the 5th cent. by their
then existing relations to the Visigoths, the Suevi entered
into alliance with the Franks on the one hand and probably
the Eastern empire on the other, with the view of checking the
power of the Arian West-Gothic king LEOVIGILD, which at
the beginning of Miro's reign threatened the absorption of the
Suevian state in the kingdom of Toledo, a result actually achieved
two years after Miro's death. The known facts of his reign,
which although few in number are often contradictorily given by the
authorities, are as follows. In 572 the second council of Braga, a
kind of supplementary council to the more important gathering of 561 [MARTINUS
(2)] was held, and the king is specially mentioned as contributing
to its assembly. In the same year Miro conducted an expedition against
the Ruccones in Cantabria, one of the restless Basque tribes, with
whom Suevi and Goths alike were perpetually at war. Four years later
Miro's great West-Gothic contemporary Leovigild appeared on the
borders of Gallicia. Miro sued for peace, and obtained it for a short
time. In 580 the Catholic rebellion of HERMENIGILD against his
father Leovigild broke out, and the rebellious son became the centre
of Frankish, Suevian, and Byzantine policy in the peninsula. In
580 we hear of envoys sent by Miro to Guntchramn of Burgundy,
Leovigild's worst enemy, and intercepted and detained on the way
by Leovigild's ally, Chilperic of Soissons. In 583 Miro set out
from Gallicia at the head of an army destined to raise the siege of
Seville, then closely invested by Leovigild. He was met on the way
by Leovigild, and, according to Gregory of Tours, who is evidently
best informed on the matter, withdrew homewards, and died shortly
after from the effects of the bad air and water of S. Spain. The
two Spanish sources, Joannes Biclarensis and Isidore, say that he died
before Seville, and describe him as assisting Leovigild in the siege
of the town. On the reconciliation of these conflicting accounts,
cf. Dahn, Könige der Germanen, vi. 571; and Görres,
Kritische Untersuch. über den Aufstand und das Martyrium der
Westgoth. Königssohnes Hermenigald, in Zeitschrift für
Hist. Theol. 1873, I. Miro's relations to Martin of Braga, the
Catholic leader and organizer of Gallicia during his reign and that
of his father, seem to have been intimate and friendly. Martin's
principal work, Formula Vitae Honestae, is dedicated to him, and
the Exhortatio Humilitatis, printed among Martin's works,
is also probably addressed to him (Esp. Sagr. xv. Appendix).